Tourism in Macau: hotel occupancy reaches 85.5% in first eight months of the year

Occupancy was up by 4.6 percentage points year-on-year.

Macau.- The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) has reported that the average hotel occupancy rate in Macau was 85.5 per cent in the first eight months of the year, a rise of 4.6 percentage points year-on-year. When compared to 2019 levels, the figure was down 6.6 per cent. Macau hotels received 9,773,000 guests, up 13 per cent in year-on-year terms. Guests spent an average of 1.7 nights in the city.

At the end of August, there were 144 hotels in Macau, an increase of 8 compared to last year. There were 45,000 rooms available, while in 2019, previous to the Covid-19 pandemic, there were 119 such establishments, offering 39,000 rooms.

Package tour visitors to Macau totalled 1,388,000, reflecting a 127.6 per cent yearly increase. The number of international hotel guests increased by 9 per cent year-on-year.

23m visitors in first eight months of the year

The DSEC reported that Macau received 23 million visitors in the first eight months of the year. That’s an increase of 30 per cent when compared to last year and represents 84 per cent of the 2019 level.

Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the director of Macau’s Government Tourism Office (MGTO), has said she is confident Macau will reach 34 million visits this year, about 6 million more than in 2023. In April, Macau’s chief executive, Ho Iat Seng, said that Macau could attract more than 30 million tourists in 2024.

The city is now preparing for the October Golden Week, which will take place from October 1 to 7 inclusive. Fernandes said that the city may see an average of over 100,000 visitors a day during the holiday period. Last year, Macau saw 932,000 tourists during the holiday, averaging 116,000 visitors per day. Earlier this month, CLSA reported that 80 per cent of Macau hotels were fully booked for the October Golden Week.

See also: Macau casinos: gaming taxes reach US$7.33bn in first 8 months of the year